1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to the manufacture of semiconductor devices, and, more specifically, to various methods of forming alternative channel materials on FinFET semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of advanced integrated circuits, such as CPU's, storage devices, ASIC's (application specific integrated circuits) and the like, requires the formation of a large number of so-called metal oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETs or FETs). A transistor includes a source region, a drain region, a channel region that is positioned between the source region and the drain region, and a gate electrode positioned above the channel region that is separated therefrom by a gate insulation layer. Current flow between the source and drain regions of the FET device controlled by controlling the voltage applied to the gate electrode. For example, for an NMOS device, if there is no voltage applied to the gate electrode, then there is no current flow through the NMOS device (ignoring undesirable leakage currents, which are relatively small). However, when an appropriate positive voltage is applied to the gate electrode, the channel region of the NMOS device becomes conductive, and electrical current is permitted to flow between the source region and the drain region through the conductive channel region.
Transistors come in a variety of configurations. A conventional FET is a planar device, wherein the transistor is formed in and above an active region having a substantially planar upper surface. In contrast to a planar FET, there are so-called 3D devices, such as an illustrative FinFET device, which is a three-dimensional structure. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative prior art FinFET semiconductor device 10 that is formed above a semiconductor substrate 12. The device 10 includes three illustrative fins 14, a gate structure 16, sidewall spacers 18 and a gate cap layer 20. The gate structure 16 is typically comprised of a layer of insulating material (not separately shown), e.g., a layer of high-k insulating material, and one or more conductive material layers that serve as the gate electrode for the device 10. In this example, the fins 14 are comprised of a substrate fin portion 14A and an alternative fin material portion 14B. The substrate fin portion 14A may be made of silicon, i.e., the same material as the substrate, and the alternative fin material portion 14B may be made of a material other than the substrate material, for example, silicon-germanium. The fins 14 have a three dimensional configuration: a height H, a width W and an axial length L. The axial length L corresponds to the direction of current travel in the device 10 when it is operational. The portions of the fins 14 covered by the gate structure 16 are the channel regions of the FinFET device 10. In a conventional process flow, the portions of the fins 14 that are positioned outside of the spacers 18, i.e., in the source/drain regions of the device 10, may be increased in size or even merged together (not shown in FIG. 1) by performing one or more epitaxial growth processes. The process of increasing the size of or merging the fins 14 in the source/drain regions of the device 10 is performed to reduce the resistance of source/drain regions and/or make it easier to establish electrical contact to the source/drain regions.
Unlike a planar FET, in a FinFET device, a channel is formed perpendicular to a surface of the semiconducting substrate so as to increase the drive current per footprint of the device. Also, in a FinFET device, the improved gate control through multiple gates on a narrow, fully-depleted semiconductor fin significantly reduces undesirable short channel effects. When an appropriate voltage is applied to the gate electrode 16 of a FinFET device 10, the surfaces (and the inner portion near the surface) of the fins 14, i.e., the vertically oriented sidewalls and the top upper surface of the fin (for a tri-gate device), form a surface inversion layer or a volume inversion layer that contributes to current conduction.
Accordingly, for a given plot space (or foot-print), FinFETs tend to be able to generate significantly higher drive current than planar transistor devices. Additionally, the leakage current of FinFET devices after the device is turned “OFF” is significantly reduced as compared to the leakage current of planar FETs, due to the superior gate electrostatic control of the “fin” channel on FinFET devices. In short, the 3D structure of a FinFET device is a superior MOSFET structure as compared to that of a planar FET, especially in the 20 nm CMOS technology node and beyond.
As it relates to transistor devices, such as planar and 3D devices, device designers have spent many years and employed a variety of techniques in an effort to improve the performance, capability and reliability of such devices. As noted above, device designers are currently investigating using alternative semiconductor materials, such as so-called SiGe, Ge and III-V materials, to manufacture FinFET devices which are intended to enhance the performance capabilities of such devices, e.g., to enable low-voltage operation without degrading their operating speed.
However, the integration of such alternative materials on silicon substrates (the dominant substrates used in the industry) is non-trivial due to, among other issues, the large difference in lattice constants between such alternative materials and silicon. That is, with reference to FIG. 1, the lattice constant of the alternative fin material portion 14B of the fin 14 may be substantially greater than the lattice constant of the substrate fin portion 14A of the fin 14. As a result of this mismatch in lattice constants, an unacceptable number of defects may be formed or created in the alternative fin material portion 14B. As used herein, a “defect” essentially refers to a misfit dislocation at the interface between the portions 14A and 14B of the fin 14 or threading dislocations that propagate through the portion 14B on the fin 14 at well-defined angles corresponding to the (111) plane. What is needed is an efficient and cost-effective method of forming alternative channel materials on FinFET devices that produces substantially defect-free channel semiconductor material.
The present disclosure is directed to various methods of forming alternative channel materials on FinFET semiconductor devices that may solve or reduce one or more of the problems identified above.